You don't have to look far and wide to gather followers for a debate on why Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Trilogy is a pale partner to his masterful The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. With its lack of deeply memorable characters, over-reliance on CGI, a script cluttered with uninteresting subplots and cartoon-like action sequences, many eager audience members met The Hobbit trilogy with high hopes soon dashed by the inevitability of corporate filmmaking and a marketing juggernaut bent on spreading the love far too thin. But while it's easy enough to toss stones at The Hobbit, a closer examination is in order to fully flesh out the reasons why this trilogy trips where The Lord of The Rings triumphs.

Dublin Business School student and Film Society member Sean Hickey has taken time to cut to the quick of why The Hobbit fails in a new video essay on style versus function. In this sincere and instructive video, Hickey moves beyond mere gripes on its stretched-out runtime and focuses foremost on the simple rules of effective storytelling, sometimes seemingly abandoned in The Hobbit. Have a look and tell us if you think any of his impassioned points hit home.